Well, I called the fence company this morning and they were actually super nice. I talked with Jim (who I’ve talked with numerous times – very nice) and he appologized for his guys installing the wrong fence. He said “you’d think after 25 years they’d know the difference…” I asked about the truck they drove out here yesterday and the description matched. When I told him about the yard he was really upset that his guys would do that, especially since it hadn’t rained in so long, then rained 2 days straight before they came. So, he said for us to get it fixed either by ourselves or a landscaper and they’d deduct that amount from our bill. Nice.

They did a lot of work today. They took off the wrong boards, and installed the entire fence minus 20 feet and 1 gate. I assume they’ll come back tomorrow, then be finished. Megabyte got to run around the yard by herself, sniffing all the wood and standing up on the rail and peeking through the boards. So cute!! Can’t wait until it’s completely finished so she can run around out there unsupervised for a few hours. We can tell she’s really excited! 🙂

Check out more pictures of progress from today by clicking the image below. Thank goodness we’re on the right track with this whole thing again.

Why does it seem that every project we hire someone for turns out wrong or needs correcting?? They started putting up the pickets for our fence today and they are the wrong kind of pickets! *scream*

We ordered what are called \”gothic pickets\” which are like this:

They installed \”french gothic pickets\” which are like this:

Plus, on top of getting the wrong fence, our yard was completely torn up by a truck, which we assume was them when they dropped off all the wood. The first time they came to work on the fence they parked on the street in the front of the house and walked around back. Today there were huge tire tracks over the yard between the street and sidewalk and about 4 feet into our yard, most about 6 inch deep ruts.

We took a bunch of pictures of the grass, and I plan on staying here tomorrow morning until they show up to see if their truck matches the tire marks before I call the company. I feel bad because I really like the company, they are super nice and did my mom\’s fence with no trouble…but this is rediculous.

Mills Fence started our fence today! They came out this morning to ask where we wanted our gates, and then started digging! They got about 1/3 of the posts in the ground, cemented. The other 1/3 has the holes dug, but no concrete yet, and they still have to dig holes for the back stretch of fence. So far it looks like they are doing a great job. They didn’t mess up the yard at all. We were really worried about dirt and rocks going all over our new grass, but they did a great job cleaning up because I don’t see any excess dirt or rocks anywhere.

I assume they’ll come back tomorrow and do the rest of the holes and posts, then they have to let the concrete set a few days before putting the pickets on. Stayed tuned for more…Click on the picture below to see progress on the fence.

Paul and I are getting our backyard fence installed Wednesday, so we decided to go to Lowe’s and get wood for stairs so we can actually get to our backyard from inside the house. The stairs turned out really well. Check out pictures of our handiwork:

Went to my follow up appointment with the oral surgeon on Friday. He said everything looks great and that I can go back to regular activities. But…when I asked him about when these big holes in my bottom jaw would heal, he said in 4-6 weeks. What?!!? He gave me this syringe looking thing that I have to use after I eat to squirt warm salt water into the holes to clean them out until they heal.Â Great. This means still no regular food for a month or so. Can’t really chew with my back molars, so no big bites of anything, no rice or things with small bits that can get down into the holes *sigh*

So…back to normal living…somewhat. Going to have to adjust my menu till the holes in my mouth heal…pretty bummed that it’s going to take so long. I don’t really have much pain anymore; Advil seems to work for me now, but I hate not being able to eat regular stuff. Grr. That’s all I can say. Grr.

Ok, so first off, I have to say that I have the absolute best husband in the whole world, and not just because he bought me a Dyson! Let me tell you folks who don’t know about Dyson (and those who do can just sit and say “oh yeah…”) they are the best vacuums in the world. The ads are so true. Listen to me; I’ve only vacuumed 1.5 rooms and I’m already an addict.

I spent about a half hour today reading the manual. I never do that but this thing has more gidgets and gazmos than your typical vacuum. I learned all the switches and attachment stuff and then gave it a whirl. First thing I noticed was how light it was! I had an upright vacuum before, but the Dyson moves so smoothly and easily over the carpet and I could tell in the first minute that this was no ordinary vacuum. Let’s just say that I thought the carpet was clean. I vacuumed and 1.5 rooms later, the Dyson was 1/2 full of dirt, hair and dust…yuck!!!! Oh my gosh, that was all in my clean carpet! Bleh!

So, I’m convinced only after 1.5 rooms. Can’t wait to try the kitchen, stairs and upstairs. Man, this is great.

*sighs* Well, everythign WAS going ok. I was progressing really well over the weekend and was up and about on Monday. Monday night, however, I threw up multiple times, ripped my stitches out because of it, and was sick from about 4am until 2pm on Tuesday. The nausea meds weren’t working so the doc had to prescribe me super-dooper nausea medication in suppository form (ewww). On top of that, I had to start all over on my diet. I went from baked potatoes, noodles and soups all the way back to 7-up and chicken broth. Clear liquids only, grrr. I’m doing better today, my teeth can finally touch (yay!) so I’m able to eat a few more things like toast and berries that need very little front-tooth chewing. Progress is slow, but I”m getting there. Probably would have been back to work on Thursday had it not been for my illness Monday and Tuesday. Now I’m not allowed back until the doctor sees me Friday afternoon. *sighs*

Getting really tired of being at home, my butt hurts from sitting in the same position in bed since Friday. At least now since the swelling is down I can sleep on my side.

Tonight is Paul and my 3rd year anniversay, what a great way to spend it! Guess we’ll have to go out to a nice dinner over the weekend or next week for my brithday. Obviously can’t eat any of my favorites yet. Bummer.

Recovery is slow.Â Saturday was pretty good, I was able to eat a little more; moved up to mashed potatoes, lentil soup and applesauce.Â I got a little more range of motion in my jaw, and the pain was subsiding.Â Yesterday was the pits.Â I was actually in tears 2-3 times because the pain was so bad.Â I had started to extend the time period between pain pills on Saturday, but had to revert back to every 4 hours on Sunday because it was just too unbearable.Â Third day is suppose to be the worst post-op though, so I’ve heard from numerous people.

Today I’m doing better.Â Range of motion in my jaw is still an issue; I can’t close my teeth together yet and the most comfortable position to hold my jaw is with my mouth about 1/2 inch open, how attractive!!Â Trying to talk is just funny.Â My family is doing a great job poking fun at my attempts at communication.Â Right now, I can’t say Cs, Gs, Ss, etc.Â Anything that requires closing my mouth to say is impossible for me right now.Â

I feel pretty good overall today.Â I’ve been up and around, playing some games and spending time out of bed.Â I don’t know when I’ll be able to go back to work.Â Guess it depends on how I progress with being able to talk and be understood, therapy doesn’t work too well when one party can’t talk. 🙂